Viber, the cross-platform messaging and VoIP app, arrives on Windows 8 with nifty features

If you are a Viber user, here’s great news for you! The company has just announced Viber for Windows 8, bringing the leading messaging and VoIP platform with over 200 million users to tablet and desktop devices running Windows 8.1.

Viber users can send free text messages, fun stickers, photos, videos and doodles, share locations anywhere in the world, and make free HD-quality calls over 3G/4G or WiFi connections. With Viber Out users can also make low-cost calls to any phone number around the world.

Designed from the ground-up for Windows 8, the app includes several features exclusive to the platform. Apart from the obvious addition of Live Tiles and Lock screen notifications, Viber for Windows 8 has neat additions like:

Pin Viber conversations to the Start screen

Snap Viber to the side of the screen with Snap View

Search for Viber contacts using the Search charm

Toast Notifications so you don’t miss a message or call

Change languages regardless of your system language

Viber for Windows 8 and the latest versions of the Viber apps on other platforms have been designed to allow you to use Viber on multiple devices. On Viber, your phone number is your ID. When you fire Viber for Windows 8 for the first time, you need to set it up with the phone number with which you use Viber on your smartphone. The app syncs with your mobile contact list, automatically detecting which of your contacts have Viber.

“Windows 8 is an exciting platform to develop for, and brings a whole new set of UI elements and unique functionality to Viber for the first time. We are excited to support Viber users on Windows 8 and this is part of our commitment to wide, cross platform availability.”

- Talmon Marco, CEO of Viber

Download Viber for Windows 8 for free from Windows Store. Tell us how you like the app, and which is your preferred messaging and VoIP app?

Viber is a really good system for talking to people across the world. Granted most people use Skype and Whatsapp but I have used viber to make phone calls via wireless or LTE to Chile, Peru and even Serbia and it works great! Also, messages are really fast. Faster than Skype I would say.

I like Viber for occasional international calls, but for messaging... It's so bad. It's incredibly slow, laggy, uses shitloads of battery, resume doesn't work half the time as well. I use the latest version on L920. I really wish Skype could become something as iMessage. Do everything well with one app. At the moment, no app can beat WhatsApp when it comes to cross-platform messaging, imo.

yeah whatsapp is the best... it has windows desktop app and/or Windows 8 app... oh wait... no it doesnt have. how can it be good for crossplatform if it doesnt work on desktop which people use alot?
Even Line is more crossplatform than WhatsApp, even skype more... and at least it doesnt ask you to log off to log in in another device.

Looks like a well-designed app. Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox as a platform need more of these kind of apps. Has anyone noticed that Xbox apps most of the time (not always) are much more better looking and well-animated than its Windows 8/8.1 counterpart?

So this really doesn't work unless a lot of people you know use Viber also? Microsoft really needs to get their crap in gear and turn Skype into iMessage so we can get our texts on our Surfaces and other Windows tablets.

I still don't get my messages updated in Skype for wp8 in the conversation section. I'll get a toast notification, but unless I make a call to that person or login on a PC, I can't read my messages. You think there's a chance that still may get fixed? I thought the transition to Azure was supposed to fix this.

Which is exactly how every other IM out there work, you have to have a lot of people you know use it before it can become useful to you . The only problem with SKype is, you have to ask for someone's username, add them and have them "accept" you before you can start talking, with Viber .. you nly need to have the person's number on your phone ..

Most of my friends/acquaintance have SKpe but only 12 of them are on my Skype friendlist compared to over 50 on Viber